DIY a Denim Mini Skirt From Old Jeans

7 Materials

$10

2 Hours

Easy

Normally we cut off the legs of jeans to upcycle the jeans into a pair of shorts or a skirt. What’s left is some extra denim fabric from the legs that normally goes to waste. In my tutorial, I show you a great idea for using this extra denim fabric to DIY an amazing mini skirt.

Tools and materials:

Measuring tape
Paper
Pen
Scissors
Pins
Sewing machine
Old jeans

DIY denim jeans to skirt

Sketch the skirt

I always like to start off by sketching out my design. I drew the mini skirt and separated it into four since it will be made up of the different legs from old pairs of jeans. I wrote down the measurements for how big each piece making up the skirt would need to be. The width would be an ⅛ of my waist measurement. Further down I marked an ⅛ of my hip measurement and of course from the top of the piece to that point would be my waist to hip measurement.

Label the sketch

I also marked the length of the skirt on my sketch and added seam allowance since I would be adding 8 of these small panels together to make the skirt.

Draw the lines

Draft a pattern

Next, I moved on to drafting the pattern for my skirt. I started by drawing a rectangle and measuring an 1/8 of my waist measurement plus 2 cm (0.8 inches) for seam allowance. I then measured the length of my skirt plus the added seam allowance and drew it in.

Draw the waist to hip measurement

I then drew in my waist to hip measurement plus 1 cm (0.4 inches) for seam allowance.

DIY denim mini skirt

After I had drawn in the line, I added 2 cm (0.8 inches) on each side which makes this an ⅛ of my hip measurement plus seam allowance.

Connect the points

Using my ruler, I then connected the ends of the top line to the bottom to finish off my pattern.

Cut out the pattern

Finally, I could go ahead and cut out my pattern piece.

Trace the pattern

Cut the fabric

Next, I traced my pattern onto my four jeans legs and once I had cut, I was left with 8 denim panels for my new skirt.

Overlock the pieces

I then made sure to overlock all my pieces before continuing.

Pin the panels

Sew the panels

Once I had all my denim panels ready, I laid them down, alternating the colors to get the perfect look for my new skirt. I then started to pin the denim panels together.

Sew along pinned lines

Next, I headed to my sewing machine to sew along the pinned lines.

Sew the other side

I then turned the skirt and sewed seams along the right side of the fabric where the panels meet.

Pin on the zipper

Attach the zipper

I folded the skirt over, right sides together so that I could attach the invisible zipper. I closed the zipper and pinned it to one side of the skirt. I then pinned the other side of the zipper to the second side of the skirt.

DIY denim skirt tutorial

I sewed on the zipper using a zipper foot to make the process easier.

Close the skirt

Once my zipper was attached, I closed up the skirt below it.

Easy DIY denim skirt

Finish the skirt

I then moved on to finish off the top of the skirt. I didn’t have enough fabric to make a waistband but I was happy to fold in the top of the skirt because it gave the piece a nice, clean finish. I folded the top inward by 1.5 cm (0.6 inches) and sewed all the way around.

Hem the skirt

I moved to the bottom of the skirt and did the same thing, hemming it to get the perfect finish.

How to make a denim skirt

I love this DIY mini skirt! What do you think about this piece? Let me know in the comments!

Suggested materials:

Measuring tape
Paper
Pen

See all materials

2 comments

Judy
on Dec 10, 2020

Wow! I love it. Finally way to use up all of the pant legs I have collected. I knew that they would come in handy some day. I see a new skirt in my nieces future.

Like
Reply
Kandy Johnson Pate Sullivan
on Dec 12, 2020

I love to recycle old close. What a great idea!!

Like
Reply

Your comment...